Winter Plan too little too late as waiting lists unacceptable
51,059 people already added to the outpatient waiting list this year
- 151,637 people added to the outpatient waiting list since the Government first took office in May 2016, which is a 36% increase
- Winter flu likely to increase number of patients on trolleys and further add to waiting lists
Dr Donal O’Hanlon, IHCA President said: “the numbers waiting to see a hospital consultant have increased by an average of over 5,100 additional people per month since the start of this year. The consultant recruitment and retention crisis, with one in five permanent consultant posts now unfilled is a key factor in the long wait times patients face. We need to end this crisis by restoring pay parity for consultants appointed since 2012 in order to fill the large number of permanent consultant posts that are unfilled.”
The Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) has said that the number of people on waiting lists for hospital appointments and procedures remains unacceptably high, and that the Winter Plan announced this week is too little and too late to make any real impact.
Commenting on the release of today’s NTPF data, the IHCA said that since the start of the year more than 51,000 additional people have joined hospital outpatient waiting lists, which now totals 567,221, and this is expected to increase further over the winter months. The inpatient/day case waiting list also remains unacceptable high at 67,511.
While the Association welcomed the allocation of an additional €26 million as part of the HSE’s Winter Plan to alleviate some of the pressure on public hospitals, it is too little too late. The IHCA said it does not provide for additional public acute hospital beds as detailed in the National Development Plan published in 2018, which provided for an additional 2,600 beds by 2027. That is an increase of at least 260 beds per annum. The IHCA has repeatedly highlighted that these extra beds need to be frontloaded.
Dr Donal O’Hanlon, IHCA President said: “the numbers waiting to see a hospital consultant have increased by an average of over 5,100 additional people per month since the start of this year. The consultant recruitment and retention crisis, with one in five permanent consultant posts now unfilled is a key factor in the long wait times patients face. We need to end this crisis by restoring pay parity for consultants appointed since 2012 in order to fill the large number of permanent consultant posts that are unfilled.”
The outpatient waiting list has grown by almost 190,000 in the past five years – a 50% increase. There are an additional 151,637 people on the outpatient waiting list since Minister Simon Harris took charge of Health in May 2016, which is more than a 36% increase.
This increase has occurred at a time when there are more than 500 permanent consultant posts that cannot be filled because of the Government’s discriminatory policy, which is driving the highly trained specialists abroad that public hospitals need.
The number of people waiting over 12 months for an outpatient appointment is also almost at a record high of 178,320 and has increased by 25,380 (17%) since the start of 2019.
The latest waiting list figures confirm that the health service has too few Hospital Consultants and insufficient capacity to cope with current demand.
Dr O’Hanlon, IHCA President added: “The increasing number of people on long waiting list for outpatient and other appointments due to a shortage of consultants can cause a deterioration in patients’ conditions and therefore an increase in ED presentations. The number of patients treated on trolleys has already exceed 100,000 this year which is double that of a decade ago when the then Minister for Health announced a national emergency.”
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Contact:
Amanda Glancy, PR360, 087 2273108 and 01 637 1777
Barry Murphy, PR360, 087 2669878 and 01 637 1777